Published: Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Washington Huskies sign 25 football recruits
Safety Thompson is gem of Washington's recruiting class
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Associated Press
The Huskies landed quarterback Cyler Miles of Mullen High School in Centennial, Colo.
SEATTLE — Wearing a nice suit and an invisible coat of exhaustion, University of Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian sat down and exhaled at the opening of his Wednesday afternoon press conference.
With a slight grin, he gave an opening statement about the changing face of Signing Day, eventually adding that social media has made the final 48 hours of the process a whirlwind of misinformation.
“In my opinion, it's an absolute mess,” he said during his 40-minute session with reporters Wednesday, “and we've got to try to figure it out.”
After countless commitments and de-commitments, emotional peaks and valleys, and two days worth of hopscotch up and down the entire West Coast, the Huskies finally had 25 names to call their own Wednesday. And if anything could be said for the latest class, it's that one change the Huskies themselves could afford to make is to protect their borders.
One year after headlining a banner crop of recruits with several in-state stars, the Huskies relied mostly on outside talent to make up the Class of 2012. Only five members of this year's class hail from the state of Washington, while four notable omissions are headed to schools in other parts of the country.
“There will come a day when every kid in the state of Washington dreams and hopes of playing for the Washington Huskies,” Sarkisian said. “We're just not quite there yet. We'll get there.”
What did go right for UW this year was an ability to immediately bolster a secondary that has struggled over the years. Safety Shaq Thompson of Sacramento, Calif., was the gem of this year's entire class, while the Huskies also added three other defensive backs with size and coverage skills.
“When you look at those four defensive backs, we just absolutely nailed it to get all four of those defensive backs on board,” Sarkisian said.
With four recruiting classes under his belt, Sarkisian has established some familiar patterns at UW. He has relied almost exclusively on Washington, California and Hawaii for talent, he has landed some big names at the skill positions, and his classes have, to date, looked better on paper than they have on the field.
The latest class could be reliant on two key players, both of whom could have roles as freshmen. The prize of this year's class is Thompson, who was ranked by Rivals.com as the fourth-best prospect in the entire country. The Huskies swooped in late to steal him away from Cal, a signing that has been widely credited to the hiring of assistant coach Tosh Lupoi away from the Bears last month.
Sarkisian admitted that Lupoi was a key factor in signing Thompson but added that relationships with himself and defensive assistants Keith Heyward and Josh Wilcox were just as important in the final hours.
The other notable signing was Mercer Island quarterback Jeff Lindquist, who may well battle for the role of Keith Price's primary backup as a freshman. The Lindquist signing was also important because he was the only one of this state's consensus top-five recruits who signed with UW.
The Thompson commitment helped quiet some of the critics who had been running amok over in-state players like Mariner's KeiVarae Russell (Notre Dame), Puyallup's Josh Garnett (Stanford) and Lakes stars Zach Banner (USC) and Cedric Dozier (Cal) getting across state lines.
“Sure, I would have loved to have gotten all those guys,” Sarkisian said without naming the players specifically. “But the reality is, they're doing what's best for them. They're all going to tremendous places. I wish them the best of luck.”
The only in-state players signed by UW were Lindquist, punter Korey Durkee (Gig Harbor High School) and offensive linemen Nathan Dean (Juanita High), Jake Eldrenkamp (Bellevue High) and Cory English (Auburn High).
California continues to be prime real estate for the Sarkisian coaching staff, while Hawaii brought in three more players, including offensive lineman Shane Brostek, the son of former UW lineman Bern Brostek. Fourteen players came from California. Thompson is generally regarded as the top recruit from the state of California, regardless of position.
“Couldn't be more fired-up to have Shaq a part of our program,” Sarkisian said.
UW went outside its usual geographical nest in landing quarterback Cyler Miles, a Denver product who committed to the Huskies in the fall but made a recruiting visit to USC as recently as last month. Miles kept Husky Nation waiting Wednesday, initially skipping his scheduled morning press conference before finally making an announcement early in the afternoon _ six hours after it was originally scheduled.
Miles is likely to challenge Lindquist and current freshman Derrick Brown for the top backup job now that Nick Montana has transferred to Mt. San Antonio Junior College in California.
“They're going to push Derrick Brown, and Derrick's going to push back,” Sarkisian said. “Realistically, one of them could be our backup come the fall.”
Part of the drama of Wednesday's Signing Day came with who didn't sign. Wide receivers Jordan Payton and Kenneth Walker of California were reported to have made verbal commitments to UW, but they ended up signing with UCLA and former Seattle Seahawks coach Jim Mora. Several other unknown players whom the Huskies hoped to land signed elsewhere as well.
“You have to roll with the punches,” Sarkisian said. “You're going to win some, you lose some. Kids are going to ultimately do what's best for them. You can't get hung up; if you do, you might lose the next one and the next one and the next one.”
Through it all, the Huskies were 20th in the nation among recruiting classes ranked by Rivals.com. UW had top-30 recruiting classes in each of the past two years but hasn't lived up to the billing on the field _ most of the stars who led the Huskies to back-to-back bowl games were recruited before Sarkisian arrived.
“In a perfect world, you would sign every kid you want,” Sarkisian said Wednesday. “But the reality is, recruiting is recruiting, and kids make decisions that are best for them.”
With a slight grin, he gave an opening statement about the changing face of Signing Day, eventually adding that social media has made the final 48 hours of the process a whirlwind of misinformation.
“In my opinion, it's an absolute mess,” he said during his 40-minute session with reporters Wednesday, “and we've got to try to figure it out.”
After countless commitments and de-commitments, emotional peaks and valleys, and two days worth of hopscotch up and down the entire West Coast, the Huskies finally had 25 names to call their own Wednesday. And if anything could be said for the latest class, it's that one change the Huskies themselves could afford to make is to protect their borders.
One year after headlining a banner crop of recruits with several in-state stars, the Huskies relied mostly on outside talent to make up the Class of 2012. Only five members of this year's class hail from the state of Washington, while four notable omissions are headed to schools in other parts of the country.
“There will come a day when every kid in the state of Washington dreams and hopes of playing for the Washington Huskies,” Sarkisian said. “We're just not quite there yet. We'll get there.”
What did go right for UW this year was an ability to immediately bolster a secondary that has struggled over the years. Safety Shaq Thompson of Sacramento, Calif., was the gem of this year's entire class, while the Huskies also added three other defensive backs with size and coverage skills.
“When you look at those four defensive backs, we just absolutely nailed it to get all four of those defensive backs on board,” Sarkisian said.
With four recruiting classes under his belt, Sarkisian has established some familiar patterns at UW. He has relied almost exclusively on Washington, California and Hawaii for talent, he has landed some big names at the skill positions, and his classes have, to date, looked better on paper than they have on the field.
The latest class could be reliant on two key players, both of whom could have roles as freshmen. The prize of this year's class is Thompson, who was ranked by Rivals.com as the fourth-best prospect in the entire country. The Huskies swooped in late to steal him away from Cal, a signing that has been widely credited to the hiring of assistant coach Tosh Lupoi away from the Bears last month.
Sarkisian admitted that Lupoi was a key factor in signing Thompson but added that relationships with himself and defensive assistants Keith Heyward and Josh Wilcox were just as important in the final hours.
The other notable signing was Mercer Island quarterback Jeff Lindquist, who may well battle for the role of Keith Price's primary backup as a freshman. The Lindquist signing was also important because he was the only one of this state's consensus top-five recruits who signed with UW.
The Thompson commitment helped quiet some of the critics who had been running amok over in-state players like Mariner's KeiVarae Russell (Notre Dame), Puyallup's Josh Garnett (Stanford) and Lakes stars Zach Banner (USC) and Cedric Dozier (Cal) getting across state lines.
“Sure, I would have loved to have gotten all those guys,” Sarkisian said without naming the players specifically. “But the reality is, they're doing what's best for them. They're all going to tremendous places. I wish them the best of luck.”
The only in-state players signed by UW were Lindquist, punter Korey Durkee (Gig Harbor High School) and offensive linemen Nathan Dean (Juanita High), Jake Eldrenkamp (Bellevue High) and Cory English (Auburn High).
California continues to be prime real estate for the Sarkisian coaching staff, while Hawaii brought in three more players, including offensive lineman Shane Brostek, the son of former UW lineman Bern Brostek. Fourteen players came from California. Thompson is generally regarded as the top recruit from the state of California, regardless of position.
“Couldn't be more fired-up to have Shaq a part of our program,” Sarkisian said.
UW went outside its usual geographical nest in landing quarterback Cyler Miles, a Denver product who committed to the Huskies in the fall but made a recruiting visit to USC as recently as last month. Miles kept Husky Nation waiting Wednesday, initially skipping his scheduled morning press conference before finally making an announcement early in the afternoon _ six hours after it was originally scheduled.
Miles is likely to challenge Lindquist and current freshman Derrick Brown for the top backup job now that Nick Montana has transferred to Mt. San Antonio Junior College in California.
“They're going to push Derrick Brown, and Derrick's going to push back,” Sarkisian said. “Realistically, one of them could be our backup come the fall.”
Part of the drama of Wednesday's Signing Day came with who didn't sign. Wide receivers Jordan Payton and Kenneth Walker of California were reported to have made verbal commitments to UW, but they ended up signing with UCLA and former Seattle Seahawks coach Jim Mora. Several other unknown players whom the Huskies hoped to land signed elsewhere as well.
“You have to roll with the punches,” Sarkisian said. “You're going to win some, you lose some. Kids are going to ultimately do what's best for them. You can't get hung up; if you do, you might lose the next one and the next one and the next one.”
Through it all, the Huskies were 20th in the nation among recruiting classes ranked by Rivals.com. UW had top-30 recruiting classes in each of the past two years but hasn't lived up to the billing on the field _ most of the stars who led the Huskies to back-to-back bowl games were recruited before Sarkisian arrived.
“In a perfect world, you would sign every kid you want,” Sarkisian said Wednesday. “But the reality is, recruiting is recruiting, and kids make decisions that are best for them.”
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